#1 But Where?

It hasn't caught on as much as I thought, but artists with a truckload of hits, looking for ways to cash in on their catalog are now releasing CD's with the title Number #1's. It started with Elvis and the Beatles. Heck, Mariah Carey's first Greatest Hits album was titled #1's. And it's seeped over to the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Abba, Kenny Rogers and this week there are two from Elton John and James Brown. The Brown includes all of his R&B #1's, which is smart because he never topped the pop charts. It's never quite made clear in the liner notes to any of those CD's just where some of these songs went to #1. Since most of these never went to the top in the U.S. or England, maybe the compiler's are including Germany, Italy, Australia, etc. Maybe they mean the R&B or Adult Contemporary chart. And, yes, I'm being sarcastic. The new Elton comp is a good starting point. My Joel Whitburn tells me that he had 9 #1 hits. But actually 8 because I've included "That's What Friends Are For". But there are 17 songs on this CD. "Your Song" and "Daniel" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" didn't reach the top of either the US or England charts. They did include "Sacrifice" which went #1 in England. I guess the point of these CD's is that we've heard these songs so many times, that they must've went #1. In reality, record companies are just looking for ways to bleed their ageing catalog artists for quick sells. I have no doubt that similar comps from Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart and any other artist who's back catalog still sells.